Posters of Kejri with Laden and Hafiz spark row

Posters carrying Arvind Kejriwal’s photographs with Burhan Wani, Hafiz Saeed and Osama bin Laden, terming them as “heroes of Pakistan”, appeared in Surat city have sparked a row. Mr Kejriwal is set to address a rally in the city.

AAP blamed BJP for the “defamatory” posters.

Before Kejriwal’s arrival, members of a local outfit ‘Yuva Azadi’ shouted slogans against him over his remarks about the surgical strikes by the Army. They had an altercation with AAP supporters.

Police detained 12 members of Yuva Azadi to avoid trouble, and released them after Kejriwal left, said inspector P I Patel of Sardarnagar police station.

Earlier in the day, Gujarat BJP leaders demanded that Kejriwal apologise for seeking proof of the surgical strikes in Pakistan-occupied-Kashmir.

“ We came to know that Amit Shah and BJP are trying to disrupt my rally. This is not my rally but it is the rally of people of Gujarat. If they disrupt the rally, they will be playing with sentiments of people of Gujarat…I hope they would not do that,” Kejriwal said at the airport.

He left for Mehasana where he would be meeting family members of those who were killed in clashes with police during the Patel quota agitation in August 2015.